Frank Mann’s experience and leadership will be important in shaping the direction of a changing county commission and we endorse him for District 5.

Mann will need to show a convincing and steady hand when it comes to spending and lay a course of open communication between the commissioners and a probable new county manager.

We endorsed Mann in the primary when he defeated Sonny Haas for asking the tough questions about sustainability when it comes to key areas like baseball and relying on spending reserves to balance the budget.

Mann is the one who originally called for county manager Karen Hawes to resign or face a termination vote, recognizing that grounding the Medstar emergency flight program was causing a collapse in her authority and that it was time for new leadership.

He voted against a tax rate increase this year, although in 2010 Mann was concerned about reserves drying up by 2013 and he and the other commissioners were looking at a tax increase if the county staff did not continue to make cuts.

As bold as Mann has been in his stand over Hawes, he needs to be equally as forceful in his handling of economic incentive projects like VR Labs. He voted for spending $5 million to bring the hi-tech drink company here, but there is little to show for that company’s efforts so far. In the future should such projects arise, we urge him to take staff’s recommendations, but also do his own homework to prevent funds being misused.

Mann’s opponent Matt Miller, a retired Air Force veteran, believes the VR Labs project was handled poorly and that Hawes should have been given more time to prove herself. He believes in eliminating property taxes as a key funding source for the budget and using other fees as replacement funding.